When Worlds Collide
by The Alien from Uranus
Summary: Imprisoned within his own dungeon, Vegeta has witnessed the fall of his once mighty kingdom. After a miraculous escape, he swears to exact his revenge upon the Ice-jin kingdom and all members of its royal family. (AU)
1. Lady Bulma to the Rescue

A/N: Many thanks to those who take the time read my humble work. Your opinions are greatly appreciated. Also, Vegeta may be a little OOC, but he returns, for the most part, to his normal self in the next chapter.

**Lady Bulma to the Rescue**

I felt the sting of early sunlight on my eyes the moment I opened them. It was six o'clock exactly, the time that the sun's rays passed through the one crack in the wall of my prison cell. I rolled over and glowered at the wall to my right, grumbling about the extreme firmness of the dirty, cold floor beneath me. All my thoughts of hopelessness swiftly returned, and I remembered just how long it had been.

I could hardly believe that it had been forty-eight days since I had last seen the outside… forty-eight days since I had last held my fiancée… and forty-eight damned days since that disgusting creature had taken over my father's kingdom.

What abhorrent, despicable creature could possibly render an entire planet helpless? Why, he's conquered more civilizations than any ruler that preceded him has, and people of all races bow down at his feet... even my own proud race. Should I ever be given the chance to destroy him, I personally would remove his repulsive head from his shoulders and mount it above my throne! Then, I'd cut off his unsightly horns and have them carved into little trinkets for my future mother-in-law!

Then, I snapped out of my impossible fantasy and continued as I typically did. I pulled a pebble from the wall that the sliver of sunlight shined onto and carved another notch beside the many notches made from previous days spent in the cell. It was during that precise moment that I began to question how my future would unfold, where all it would lead me. "Surely nowhere," I reasoned to myself as I returned the chalk-like rock back to the groove where I had first found it. I carefully grazed the ends of my fingers across the notches that I had been making... all forty-eight of them. I doubted then the chances of my ever having a future, for nothing awaited me in the years to come. Confided within my cell, no opportunities lay before me. I had no chance of escaping, and most certainly no chance of fully viewing the light of day ever again.

Falling gracelessly to my knees, I pounded my course, worn palms into the grimy floor before me. I tried to remain strong and keep my composure, but a single defiant tear rolled down my face and trickled onto the floor, leading me into a fit of shameful sobs. Such an action may have been disgraceful for a prince such as I, but I could do nothing to stop myself. No one considered me an honorable prince any longer, especially not the ones who held me prisoner.

As I continued to mull over my losses, an unfamiliar rapping came from my door. I wasn't sure what to make of it since the sentry only checked on me once during the late evening to see that I hadn't escaped. A thud sounded from the opposite side of the door, subsequently followed by... abrupt silence. Curiosity getting the better of me, I slowly stood and gently pressed my ear against the door. I could hear faint footsteps pattering down the hallway, and as the seconds passed, I could hear them growing louder and faster! I tore away from the door and forced myself against an adjacent wall, awaiting the impact. As the footfalls drew nearer, I could hear some unfortunate fool's crying plea for mercy.

Then, I heard the most horrendous, blood-curdling shriek. The quick hack of cold steel slicing through flesh and bone sounded all too real. I heard a weary, exhausted groan just before a fresh cadaver smacked against the floor outside my door.

I wasn't entirely sure whether it was safe to move back to the door, but again curiosity tempted me. Ever so lightly, I inched nearer the door, but mere moments before I could lay my ear against it, the chains around the lock began to clatter, and so I bolted to the darkest corner of my cell. As the clattering intensified, whoever it was on the other side was obviously becoming impatient. Suddenly, the clattering stopped. Even though I had long since covered my eyes, I knew the source of the dragging, eerie creak that followed. A few heavy footsteps plodded on the stone floor of my cell, halting what I presumed to be only inches ahead of me.

"Is this the great Prince Vegeta huddled here in a cell corner? I was expecting you to be little more valiant," his smooth, seemingly feminine, voice echoed throughout my chamber.

Normally, I would have retaliated with my own degrading remark, but my shattered ego kept my face hidden and my mouth closed. I was halfway expecting him to ruthlessly decapitate me for not responding, so I waited for him to put me out of my misery.

"No comment at all? They must have done away with you before my arrival."

I heard him sheathe his sword and depart from the cell with a rather slow, disappointed pace. I then lifted my head to catch a glimpse of my potential attacker, but his back was facing me, so I could see only the flowing dark cape he wore.

It was then I realized that I was behaving like a spineless coward. Why had I let this arrogant, barbarian from who-knows-where make a fool of me? I proudly rose to my feet to accept his challenge, as I could never decline a fight.

"Who says I'm dead? The Saiya-jin Prince is alive and well!"

He halted in mid-step and hesitantly turned to face me. "Vegeta, you're alive!"

Completely ignoring the comment, I gaped at incomparable beauty and grace, for it was no barbarian that stood before me, only my Lady Bulma to whom my father had betrothed me. How she could possibly have gotten past the sentry, I wondered, but nonetheless greeted her with open arms. She dived lovingly into my waiting embrace as though we had been separated for an eternity.

Then, she gently placed her delicate hand on my cheek, gazed deeply into my eyes, and sighed, "My dear Vegeta, what have they done to you? I've never seen you look so… broken. My proud, wild prince is gone…"

I took her smaller hand into my own and said, "No… they may take my kingdom, my title, and my freedom, but they can never have my pride."

She looked me over apprehensively. "You look as though you've seen a century. I'm taking you out of here-no one can keep my Vegeta incarcerated in a dungeon!"

I made sure to keep my true feelings to myself since I really didn't want her to know how downhearted I truly was. In the past forty-eight days, I had experienced more of Freeza's cruelness than I had ever wanted to see. I knew then just how Freeza's unfortunate war captives felt, the torture they underwent. Yet, the presence of my Lady somehow seemed to lighten my burden.

"My dear, how did you ever manage to find me-and keep your head? And how do you expect to find a way out without being caught?"

"I owe it all to this little device," she answered proudly, as with her unfailing ingenuity had mostly likely invented it herself. She slipped what appeared to be holographic disk from her pocket and laid it out flat on her hand. "Now, watch carefully," she instructed as she took several steps back from me. It wasn't until then that I had noticed the object's fading glow, and as she stepped closer to me, I saw its luminescence grow brighter. "You see, its glow changes intensity when closer to someone with a high power-level."

"Who else but you could think up such a clever thing? I would ask how, but it probably involves some unknown, futuristic science that only the most brilliant scientists could understand."

"Would you listen to that flattery? Why, I've never heard such compliments from you before!"

"Do I hear complaining over there? Maybe I shouldn't be nice, since meanness seems to suit you so."

"Hold it just a minute, there! I like hearing you talk this way, but I'm curious to know what changed you."

"Self realization: Let's leave it at that."

She didn't pursue the subject any further, which surprised me, but she _did _continue to ask about what all had happened in the cell. I told her as little as possible. Once I had said enough to satisfy her curiosity, she led me out of the cell and into the winding hallways of the castle, where we encountered the first few ruts in our path…

A/N: If you think it's good enough to continue, please let me know. If not, then I really wish I could give you that ten or so minutes of your life back.


	2. Know You Not the Prince of Saiyajins!

A/N: Wow, you came back! Vegeta will be acting more like himself in this chapter.

**Know You Not the Prince of Saiya-jins!**

I noticed that she had been glancing over at me quite often since she'd broken me out my cell, but any time that I met her eyes, she would avert her gaze in another direction. I wondered what could bring about such strange behavior, but dared not ask. "_It's probably just something stupid going on in her head_," I thought… yet every time I sensed her gaze fixed upon me, I felt the urge to ask what was on her mind.

Finally, as if reading my thoughts, she asked quietly, "Vegeta, dear?"

Feeling the common urge to hide my dejection, I snapped a forced, "What is it?" but caught myself before I could say anything else. I could have sworn that I saw tears welling in her eyes as soon as I spoke in the harsh tone to which I was usually accustomed.

"I was wondering—Vegeta, what's wrong?" she stammered meekly, which I found quite odd for her. Normally, she would have snapped back, insisting that I tell her what she wanted to know, but she reacted with such hesitance and caution that it caught me by surprise.

"Nothing—nothing's wrong with me," I lied, for I knew that if I tried to explain it to her then that my unplanned, jumbled up words wouldn't make any sense to her.

I could tell from her concerned expression that she didn't believe me, but then again, I was never really good at lying, though I could usually hide my emotions, which I had often times wished didn't exist. I just wasn't ready to tell her, not at that point in time. I thought that, one day after we had settled down, I might perhaps tell her of the events that occurred during my forty-eight-day nightmare, but until then, the subject would be off limits.

My focus needn't have been her at the time, but the rescue of the only other woman I held dear: my mother. Although it wasn't the only thing bothering me at the time, I decided to use it as an excuse to satisfy Bulma since her ever-present look of concern had me feeling rather awkward.

"Bulma?"

"Yes, Vegeta?" she returned almost before I had finished.

"Before we leave this putrid place, there is one thing I have to do first." I sighed and continued, "You see, my mother is being held captive here as well, but I don't know where. I couldn't live with myself if we left her here, so I want to help her escape with us… and I wouldn't place her rescue in the hands of anyone else."

"So that's what's been bothering you," she mumbled idly to herself, to which I remained silent. "Well, I know of a way we can find her cell without looking all over the castle."

"Anything to get her out of here as soon as—"

Bulma's sudden hush cut me short, and I saw her point down at her power-level detector. It was glowing more brightly than before, so brightly in fact, that it was enough to give away our location. To keep whoever it was from finding us, I grabbed it from her hand and quickly stuffed it inside her boot to hide the light.

"What the—Oomph!" Before she could say anything else, I clamped my hand over her mouth to save the element of surprise. Instinctively, she bit the inside of my hand, not only causing me more pain that I had expected, but also making yelp at an uncomfortably loud volume.

I heard the shuffling of feet and someone whispering some Ice-jin gibberish directly ahead of us. The darkness shrouded most of their features, but I could manage to make out two distinct silhouettes. One appeared immensely larger than the other, with the latter holding what seemed to be a spear-like weapon, which was quite unusual for one of Freeza's lackeys to be carrying since most of his men were issued laser guns. I thought for sure that they had heard me, but they continued to jabber on as if nothing had happened.

"Bulma," I whispered in the quietest voice I could muster, "you stay here while I take care of these goons."

She nodded in agreement while I crept up silently behind the two guards, who were both completely oblivious to our presence. Before I could reach them, however, the taller guard's communicator began to beep. Although I wasn't very fluent in Ice-jin and it didn't seem important at the time, I listened in anyway.

"_Hey, Akunza_," I heard the extremely loud, ominous voice on the other end yell, "_we got a situation here on Cell Block 50!_"

"_Block 50? What seems to be the problem, Captain?_"

"_Vegeta's escaped! I thought I told you bumble brains to watch that sector today!_"

The Ice-jin guard winced at his commander's impetuous tone and continued fearfully, "_What for, sir? We had no idea_—"

"_Kea's on leave for the rest of the month, so she wouldn't be there to guard Vegeta's cell. I told you that a week ago! Now, either you get that monkey back in his cage where he belongs, or I'll personally skin your hides!_"

"_Yes, Captain_…" He then turned to his vertically challenged partner and announced, his voice dripping with dread, "_Makali, Captain ordered us to go catch Vegeta_."

I silently debated on whether I should speak at that and scare the living hell out of them or use the element of surprise and kill them without letting the rest of the castle know. Of course, my pride has always shone through for me, so I decided to do both. I first tiptoed back a few steps and borrowed Bulma's sword, then sprinted forward, purposely being loud enough for them to hear me coming, and beheaded the tall guard just as they were looking back to see the source of the noise. The other merely gawked in terror, the blood of his comrade speckled across his face.

"So you think you can capture the Saiya-jin Prince," I sneered boldly at the shocked and quivering sentinel. I swung at lightning speed for his head, stopping but a hair's breadth from the end of his nose. "You pathetic, low-class piece of shit! Hmph, I wonder why Freeza keeps such incompetent soldiers like you around… but then again, your 'mighty leader' never had much common sense anyway. I guess those ugly horns of his take up any room for a brain in his thick skull."

Just as I was about to thrust her sword through his neck, Bulma shouted, "Wait! We can use him first! He might know where they're keeping your mother!"

I put on my usual smirk and pushed the guard against the cold stone wall. "So, it seems my Lady here has saved your life… unless you refuse to cooperate." I raised the sword up to his neck and demanded to know where my mother was. He either couldn't understand Saiya-jin or was just plain stupid, for right afterwards, he tried to reach for a dagger on his belt. Needless to say, his trying didn't exactly end in success. Since he obviously didn't want to take the easy way out, I collared him roughly and almost effortlessly wrestled him to the floor.

All who know me personally know that I am not a patient man, nor do I like insubordination from lower-level underlings, but this particular low-class pile of dung very much liked to try my patience. Tired of his struggling to get away, I tossed the sword aside and beat his head into the floor three or four times to get through to him. Right when I thought he was going to break down and say something, he threw a punch at my face, but I caught it before it could've hit me. He let out a deafening shriek as I crushed his fist, probably breaking every bone in his right hand and causing him permanent carpal damage.

"Now, you listen here, you worthless son a bitch," I growled irately, giving him a hard slap in the face for good measure, "if you don't tell me where my mother is in the next ten seconds, I'm going to blow your sorry ass to smithereens!" Still, he gave me no answer.

"Vegeta, may I give you a suggestion? Try speaking his native tongue," Bulma proposed, so I took her advice and spoke some horridly mispronounced and mostly likely grammatically incorrect Ice-jin. I've always wondered how she managed to think of simple, obvious things before I could…

"_Mother, tell me where you be!_" I spat in his face in Ice-jin, but he only looked at me as though I were a complete lunatic, so I reworded my sentence and tried again: "_Tell me, my mother, where be she?_" Again, he looked confusedly at me. "_Damn it, you fucker from hell! Tell me my mother where she be!_"

As one could easily see, I wasn't having any fun trying to speak a language in which I had had little formal teaching. All that I knew of it was what I'd picked up from listening to the guards at the castle and what a few of my father's ambassadors had _tried_ to teach me before Freeza invaded our planet, which wasn't much. The language barrier between the guard and me was frustrating to no end, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could continue to guess at the proper sentence structure before I blew him to pieces for not being able to see past my bad grammar.

"_Where be my mother, tell me,_" I tried again as calmly as I could in one last attempt to establish communication between us.

"_Your—your mother?_" he stuttered hesitantly.

"_Yes, tell me, where keep you her?_"I asked, relieved that he had finally understood what I was trying to say.

"_Cell Block 21, room number 6075. You'll never make it out of here alive, bastard. The whole complex is on alert—nobody escapes from Freeza!_"

Enraged, I responded, "_Know you not the Prince of Saiya-jins!_" With that, I snatched Bulma's sword off the floor and thrust it through his neck as I had originally intended.

"Well, what did he say?" she all but demanded to know.

"That fool called me a bastard! And I was going to let him live! I'll show _him_ who can escape from Freeza. On to Cell Block 21, we haven't a minute to spare."

We wondered through the castle's vast corridors for what seemed like hours before we ever reached Block 21. When we finally did get there, we found that there were more cells than she and I could ever have searched without knowing at least the first two digits of the cell number. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of cells, all filled to capacity with Freeza's war captives, most of them Saiya-jins. I hated the thought of leaving all my subjects locked up in those filthy little rooms, but I knew that I had to find Mother first, since I knew I would need her wise guidance to organize a well-strategized war against Freeza.

Lady Bulma and I slunk cautiously down the much narrower halls that held the cells. The first room number we passed began with a three, so I assumed that we had a long way to go on finding the rooms that started with a six. After about fifteen minutes of dodging security guards and sneaking around corners, we finally reached the end of the hallway, which branched into three other halls. The one on the right led to the rooms starting with four, the one straight ahead led to the rooms starting with five, and the one on the left led to the rooms starting with six. So left we went, and we didn't have to go far at all, since Mother's cell was almost right around the corner.

"Cell 6075," Bulma sighed, relieved that we had finally found it.

I checked above the doorway to make sure we had the right cell, and indeed, we did: Underneath the number, in bold Saiya-jin lettering, was written "Meillon Vegeta," my mother's name.

The door to her cell was of a plain design, smooth and rectangular, but the door hadn't a handle or a button to open it, and I couldn't find a place to slide in a security card; so, fed up with things not working for me, I decided to blast the door open. Raising the ki in my right hand, I formed an energy ball about the size of a person's head, but before I could release it, Bulma saved me, once again, from doing something incredibly stupid.

"Vegeta, stop! If you raise your power level too high, they'll find us!"

I charged down my attack, realizing that she was right. Since I still couldn't find a convenient way to open the door, I beat it down with my bare fists, hoping that the noise didn't alert any guards. The beaten door collided into the floor with a booming metallic clang, disturbing the loose dirt on the floor so that a sheer cloud of dust circulated about the cell. I had halfway expected to hear a cry of joy, or at least one of momentary fear, but received neither. From the doorway, I scanned the entire room, but all that I saw was a cracked water bowl and an article of clothing that was shredded beyond recognition.

"Mother…"

I don't remember what all I said to Bulma at the time, but I do remember the flood of emotions I felt. Thoughts of Freeza's men beating, molesting, maybe even killing her, swarmed through my head like a plague of hornets, enraging me to a level I had never felt before. Even when Freeza's forces raided the castle and locked us all up in our own dungeon, I didn't fell the kind of fury that I did standing in the doorway of my mother's empty prison cell. Whether it would've been a wise move or not, I was about to unlock the gates of Hell.

A/N: I hope you liked this one. Again, opinions (good or bad) are greatly appreciated.


	3. Anger Unleashed

_The golden light of the setting suns reflected off every leaf in the garden, giving the setting a warm, comforting glow. I lay on my back in the soft grass, watching as the suns set below the horizon. Taking me by surprise, I felt someone's fingers graze gently across my shoulder, then grab me completely in a warm embrace._

"_What's my Vegeta doing out here all alone?" she asked, a warm smile upon her face._

"_I'm just out here watching the suns set. The colors are so pretty."_

_Mother sat down beside me, her arm still draped across my shoulders, and mumbled, "So they are…"_

_When the first sun had set and the stars began to appear faintly in the twilight sky, my mother pulled me close and gave me a peck on the forehead, saying, "I love you, son, and don't you ever forget that. And even when I'm long dead, I won't be gone from you forever. I'll be like first setting sun, waiting along the horizon for you to follow me to the other side."_

"_So, we'll turn into suns when we die?" asked I with all the wonder of a six-year-old child._

"_No, silly, I mean that I'll never leave you." She smiled motherly and hugged me again._

_I never understood why she did that… hugging me. My father never did, and I never saw any of the other Saiya-jin parents show affection toward their children, but my mother always greeted me with her kind maternal love. I once asked my father about it, but he glared and lectured me, saying, "Why should a warrior do such trivial things? Don't you know, boy, that showing love is a weakness? If you let your emotions take control of you, your enemies could easily use that weakness against you. You have to be hard, strong, and ruthless to get anywhere in life!"_

_My mother, on the other hand, would always encourage me to open up to others and be aware of how I felt. Of course, being the young boy out to please his father, I tried earnestly to ignore any emotion that I felt. I wanted to be a strong warrior like him and conquer planets one day as king of my people, so I listened to him a little more each day, slowly shutting my mother out._

_It wasn't that I didn't love my mother; I just didn't want to continue looking like a fool in my father's eyes and in the eyes of every other Saiya-jin warrior. As I grew older, my mother stopped giving me hugs so frequently, and eventually, gave me none at all. She knew that I wanted to grow up and break free from her arms to follow my father, so she let me be and gave me room to become whoever I wanted, no matter who he might be._

_On my eleventh birthday, I remember, Mother said to me, "My dear little Vegeta… you're growing up so quickly that—why, soon you'll be a man. I can only pray that you won't forget the mother that raised you." Then, she held me close… for the last time._

_Mother, I haven't forgotten._

My emotions were erupting within me like a volcano, intense and volatile. I wanted nothing more than to tear Freeza's army apart limb by limb, and I wasn't about to stop for anyone, not even Bulma. The only thing on my mind at that time was rescuing my mother from the greasy clutches of Freeza's malicious henchmen.

Despite my Lady's passionate cries of protest, I stormed headstrong down the corridor like a madman, my aura highlighting my once shadowed silhouette like a glowing flame in a dark room. Anyone who stood in my way would stand no longer, and I had planned use my bare hands to tear apart anyone other than my Lady who protested.

As I rounded the corner where we had turned earlier, I encountered my first victim. He was a gangly-looking guard suited up in an elite-ranked Ice-jin armor, strolling down the hallway, doing his usual routine cell check. Once he caught sight of my blazing form tearing down the hall, his expression went from one of carefree contentment to that of a horror-struck, petrified child. My fist against his face was probably his last memory. The guard's lifeless body fell in a bloody heap at my feet shortly after I impaled his midriff with my other ki-charged fist. I smeared his blood on the wall, trying to wipe as much of it off my hand as I could, but I only succeeded in making crimson smear marks.

After I wiped the remaining blood on my pants leg, I finally noticed another awestruck guard, this one pointing a laser gun at me and stuttering a string of Ice-jin curses. I looked him dead in the eye and gave him one of my menacing smirks, to which he only gaped in horror, his grip on the gun loosening due to his quaking hands. I rushed at him before he could fire a shot and, with a single blast from my hand, blew him to gory, chunky bits, along with the entire portion of the wall behind him.

Pandemonium ensued as a small army of security guards raced down the hallway in response to the blaring alarms that went off after I had demolished the wall. Those in front began firing a barrage of lasers and weak ki attacks at me, so I ducked into the hole in the wall, which happened to have an empty prison cell behind it. I waited for them to come to me as I charged up a Big Bang Attack.

I could feel them coming closer, their power-levels rising, but I refused to falter, for the fate of my mother and future wife depended on me. As soon as the first guard entered my line of sight, I released my attack, sending a blinding wave of energy to engulf him and the guards that followed. The walls of the cell then began to collapse, so I rammed my elbow into the wall just behind me, forming myself an exit to escape through. Once I reached the other side, I found myself again in another prison cell, this one as bare as the previous.

I had hardly enough time to breathe when I heard Bulma's voice cry, "Vegeta, help me!"

I turned around, expecting to see an uninjured guard with a gun at her head, or something of the like, but instead found her partially buried under a large pile of bricks that were once part of the ceiling. I wasted no time in coming to her aid and began throwing rocks off her as fast as I could lift them from atop her legs. Quick as lightning's flash, I had her thighs and knees uncovered. As I was removing the bricks from around her ankles, though, I began to notice the large number of cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over her legs. She looked as though someone had attacked her bottom half with red and purple paintbrushes; however, the worst was yet to be seen.

After I had finished heaving the stones off her, I offered her my hand to help her up, but when she tried to lift her arm to reach mine, she winced in pain and fell back down against the floor. I spied a trail of blood flowing down her other hand, with which she was bearing down hard on her triceps. She winced again as I gently pulled her hand away, revealing the gruesome sight beneath.

I exclaimed the only coherent thought I could form: "Bulma, you're arm!"

Blood poured down her left arm from a deep gash just below her shoulder. A single hunk of flesh hung down from the wound, making it a gory sight indeed. I normally would have thought nothing of such a respectively minor injury (no missing limbs), but the sight of the hideous gash marring the beauty of my Lady struck a chord within me.

"A sharp brick fell on me after you killed those guards," she explained in a hushed, trembling voice.

"Hold on. Let me bandage that up for you."

I ripped off the bottom of my tattered shirt and, after repositioning the hanging piece of skin, wrapped it tightly around her upper arm. I then helped her to her feet, an agonizingly slow process that seemed to take hours, but she eventually found her footing and could walk again unaided. However, she found it difficult to run, which would slow us down considerably. I wanted to find my mother as soon as possible, and if we were to make our way out of the castle alive, we would have to find a quicker escape route.

Suddenly, beam of light shot across the room, just barely missing the top of Bulma's head, and disintegrated the wooden door behind us. Painful though it was for her, I scooped my Lady up in my arms and hurriedly carried her out of the room. Then, I set her down in an alcove adjacent to the doorway and charged up another ki attack.

Laser beams shot through where the door once was like heavy rain, but I felt no fear. The anger I felt, even the sorrow, somehow drove me to do the things I did at that hour, as though a spiritual force urged me on to reclaim my kingdom. It was in that very moment, just before I reentered the very room that could have held my doom, that all became clear, and I could focus strictly on what needed to be done. Boldly, I sprinted forth and skidded though the doorway into the middle of the room, balanced on one knee and the heel of my opposite foot, and released a barrage of small ki attacks into the line of Ice-jin soldiers. One by one, they fell, and soon the opposing attacks ceased; there was no one left to fight me, for they had all been obliterated by the hand of one man, one Saiya-jin: me. Truly, I had regained my natural pride.

I smirked to myself, seeing the carcasses of my enemies lying in a perfect row across from me, and taunted them, in their native tongue, "_Now see you the strength of Freeza's army. The Prince stands undefeated!_"


	4. Onward and Forward

**Onward and Forward!**

Within the alcove I had left her sitting, my Lady remained unmoved, except that she had covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes tight. Her facial expression reminded me of one of the creatures she had shown me from her home planet--a "_monkey_," I believe she called it. Ah, the sweet memories it brought back…

"Bulma, you can open your eyes now," I told her after pulling one of her hands away.

She carefully opened one, then two, and finally realized that the danger had passed. Bulma flashed a smile of delight and attempted to leap up and embrace me, but stopped short and fell to her knees from the soreness in her legs. I longed terribly to ease her pain but lacked the ability, and watching her struggle only made it worse; so, I offered her my hand, which she grabbed eagerly without a second thought, and rose to her feet. Then, she seized me in a full embrace, planting swift, tender kiss on my lips. I paused carefully before responding.

It was at that point that I began to feel that familiar twinge return. I had to stop; something just didn't feel right. Romancing was not something I did well, and most certainly not something I enjoyed. Though I loved Lady Bulma very much and wanted nothing more than to see her happy, cuddling and kissing simply weren't the sort of things a Saiya-jin warrior did to show adoration. We were subtler in our displays of affection, while her kind relied more on physical touching and plain, open confessions of their love… so crude, it seemed to me.

Several seconds passed before she finally let me go and relieved me of that sweet agony. Finally, I could revert to normal.

"Bulma," I began as she released her grip about my midriff, "you said there was a way to find Mother quickly. What was it? I have to know."

"Ah, yes, _that_." She smiled, returning to her usual air of intelligence, and limped to the doorway that led to the room of dead guards. Peering inside, she raised a hand over her mouth at the sight of the bodies and let out a light gasp. Green as I had ever seen her, she continued shakily, "If you can find a scouter that still works on one of the bodies…"

"Of course! We could follow her ki with the scouter and find her easily."

So, I commenced a search of the dismembered cadavers, only to find that most of the scouters either had cracked eyepieces or had been completely destroyed from my ki attacks. I picked a few of the least damaged ones to check and see if they worked. The first one beeped like normal and picked up a few ki signals before letting out a piercing, electronic screech and exploding on the side of my face. I irately rubbed my cheek to relieve the stinging and tried the next. That one, too, blew up in my face, its red-tinted eyepiece shattering in my hand like so much glass.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Vegeta, are you all right?" my Lady asked concernedly, still cowering behind the corner.

"I fine!" I replied and angrily snatched the last one from the floor, adjusting it to fit my ear. "You'd better work, you piece of shit…"

I breathed an irritated sigh and pushed the button to survey the castle, but the screen remained blank. I pressed it again harder and waited for a response, but still nothing came of it. After pushing the scan button about three more times, I ripped it off my ear and smashed it against the wall.

"None of these scouters work, Bulma," I called crossly into the next room.

"I guess we'll just have to steal one off the next guard we find," she answered.

And so, we were off again, sneaking down corridors, hiding around corners; all the while searching for our next unsuspecting victim. Bulma used her ki-detecting device to warn us of any approaching sentries, though the softly glowing disk showed no signs that anyone was near, which only added to my ever growing anticipation. It seemed that then when we needed one, no guards were to be found.

As we continued our trek through the dank passages of my ruined home, my thoughts wandered back to Mother and the problems that lay ahead us. The vision of her capture during battle still ran fresh through my mind, as well as the pain I felt from not being able to save her, and my imagined scenarios of how they might have been torturing her while we wandered around aimlessly along maze-like corridors were almost more than I could bear. Her beaten body lying cold against the stone floor, her wails of anguish echoing about the walls of an impenetrable room, her sanity broken from watching countless numbers of her subjects die: it was enough to drive a man mad. Suddenly, I felt the stinging in my palms from where my ragged fingernails had carved little half-moons into my flesh, a single tear of rage forming in the corner of my eye.

Despite my overwhelming desire to rip everything in sight apart, I kept my extreme feelings of hatred and sorrow bottled within me, so as not to alarm Bulma. Her sheltered human psyche couldn't handle the kind of pain I was in at the time, and even though she possessed intelligence far beyond that of the average of either our kinds, I still felt that she wouldn't understand what I was going through.

Bulma was lady of high stature, the daughter of Earth's most prominent inventor and corporate owner, the living key to her planet's wealth. She'd never seen the likes of a battlefield bloodied with thousands of corpses nor the true hostility of Saiya-jin nature. The only reason she had agreed to be my bride was to bring military might to her planet and economic power to mine, hopefully uniting the kingdoms of two physically similar races and eventually creating one Vegeta-Earth superpower capable of presiding over the entire known universe. Though it would be several generations before such a plan would begin to show noticeable results, both my father and Dr. Briefs had high hopes for success.

"Vegeta, ahead," my Lady whispered, interrupting my thoughts.

She had hidden the glowing ki detector and pointed to the other end of the hall where an Ice-jin guard had just exited a door and was in the process of locking it. I watched him closely awhile to anticipate his next move, the jingle of his keys being the only sound made. He held an ancient-looking spear at his side similar to one that a guard we had seen before carried. Again, I was baffled as to why Freeza would issue his men such prehistoric weapons, while the rest of the universe used laser guns or ki attacks. (Little did I know that I was soon to find out why.)

This time around, I decided on silently breaking the guard's neck instead of using Bulma's sword. The trim along the 12-foot ceiling had a great many bricks jutting out from it and several niches below them more than large enough to fit the end of a foot inside them, so I opted to scale the wall and drop down beside him at the end to avoid making as much noise as possible. Being the non-fighter, Bulma hid behind one of the statues lining the left side of the corridor while I climbed along the wall.

Soon after I had reached the halfway mark, the jingling stopped, and I paused to watch the guard's next move. He tapped a button on the side of his scouter, the one for communication, and muttered some Ice-jin gibberish to his commander. I managed to catch bit and pieces of their exchange.

"_This sector is clear, sir. No sign of Vegeta anywhere."_

A worried voice replied, _"You'd better be damn sure; otherwise, you might end up like Akunza and Makali."_

"_No worries, Captain. I sent a team after him in Block 21. I haven't heard any calls for back-up or any more alarms go off, so they must have the situation under control."_

"_Riktor, that was half an hour ago! You say your men haven't reported back. Perhaps that's because Vegeta's killed them all!"_

Despite his superior's fearful tone, the guard insisted flippantly, _"Nonsense, Captain. They were some of the strongest fighters patrolling the west wing. The Prince of Saiya-jins he may be, but Vegeta's still just one guy! Why, I bet that…"_

The captain cut him off short, _"Listen to me, Lieutenant! If we don't get this situation under control, and Lord Freeza finds out about it, he'll mount both our asses!"_

Sighing, the lieutenant accepted defeat. _"Will do, Captain. I'll check on the men and see if they've made any progress."_

I smirked, somewhat proud of the chaos I had caused. Freeza's idiot henchmen had no idea how to handle a real situation, as Freeza himself had personally made sure to keep things in check at all times. For most of the beings who knew his name, to hear it was equivalent to meeting certain death, or at least, the loss of precious freedom. As for me, I equated its utterance with pure, unrepressed hatred. Anything that had to do with Freeza meant nothing more to me than the dirt under my feet, and sight of his undesirable form aroused the kind of anger within me that destroyed entire planets.

Stealthily, I slunk further along wall, creeping closer the guard, who at the time was trying to radio his men. With his back turned to me, I knew it was safe to sneak as closely as possible to him before striking. He fiddled around with his communicator for about half a minute without getting a response, so I hurried my pace, hoping to reach him before he could realize that there was no one left to contact. Foolish dimwit… if only he knew the Prince of Saiya-jins was lurking mere shadows behind him, waiting for just the right moment to pounce.

Then, I heard him speak again, though I didn't bother to translate a word he said. It sounded like he was commanding some underling in his jurisdiction, but it didn't matter, for I decided that then would be the perfect time to catch him off guard.

I climbed down the end of the wall and set foot again on the floor, the poor lighting from single bulb above the door conveniently hiding my figure. Cautiously, I crept up closer behind the Ice-jin's back, almost close enough to reach out and—

"_Look out!"_

_Now, where had I heard that phrase before?_

—He whipped around like greased lightning, swinging at my head with his spear, the tip of which emitted an eerie purplish glow. I lurched back just in time to avoid having the lower half of my face removed, only to have him ram a ki-charged fist into my abdomen. Though it did little to harm me, the mere fact that I had been attacked so unexpectedly had me stunned for a blink or two. After swiftly regaining my wits, I attempted to snatch his weapon away, which he had poised above his head ready for his next blow; however, he swung it forward out of my reach and nicked me on the shoulder while I closed in with my other hand, shifting my target to his neck. With brute force on my side, I was able to keep a firm grip over his throat and lift his entire body above my head as I flung him into the wall behind me. The impact caused only a minor crack in the wall, but left him lying on the floor gagging. I seized the opportunity to pummel the living daylights of the bastard and rushed at him with a swift low kick to the stomach, striking him again with the heel of my same foot against the side of his head.

"_I surrender!" _he stammered, wheezing in several sharp, quick breaths.

I paused and withdrew my foot.

Then, he repeated, _"I surrender! Please… I give up."_

Ever since I was a little child, my father taught me never to trust an enemy on the battlefield. This guard would be no exception. Were I more fluent in Ice-jin, I might have tried to negotiate conditions for surrender, but as you well know, I'm not a patient man, nor do I like confusing Ice-jin sentence structures. Instead, I snatched up his spear, which was lying a few feet from were he laid, and rammed it with little resistance through his chest. A gout of blue blood sputtered from his mouth, and he took several long, heavy gulps of air before his breathing shifted to short, quick gasps, the tips of his fingers twitching all the while. To keep it all plain and simple: he died a very painful death.

Once the guard was finally completely dead, I donned his scouter and removed the glowing-tipped spear from his carcass. I remember wondering why the end of the spear irradiated so but refrained from touching the end of it, lest I zap off the tip of my finger. I grazed my hand over the handle several times in search of a switch or button that could make the old-fashioned, barbaric spear shoot out laser beams or something of the like. Much to my disappointment, I found none. The weapon was as it appeared: just a glowing pointy stick.

I couldn't help feeling that Freeza had lost his mind. The security guards with spears were the easiest to take down, so why give them such obsolete weapons? It made no sense.

Averting my attention from the spear, I looked up and happened to catch my Lady peering from behind her hiding place.

"He's dead, Bulma. It's safe to come out now," I called out to her.

Before emerging, she asked, "Did you get the scouter?"

I pointed to the side of my face and answered, "Right here."

Smiling, she appeared from behind the statue andlimped as quickly as she couldup to me. I could see the twinkling excitement in her eyes as she removed the scouter from my ear. After turning it over in her hands a few times, she quickly popped open the side with a look on her face similar to that of child with a new toy. Whipping outa small, metal tool,sheproceded to tinkeraway at the wiring. Instead of trying to translate numbers from Ice-jin, she decided that it would be easier to just change the language settings to something one of us could read. With her handy multipurpose repair tool, which I noticed she carried around with her _everywhere_, Bulma poked around and pressed a few tiny buttons inside the device.

Though she often never mentioned what it was she did at her father's company, I had a feeling that it might have had something to do with mechanics. After all, since she was Dr. Briefs' daughter, she could have held any position she liked. What puzzled me, however, was the fact that nothing seemed impossible to her. It was as though she lost all sense of reality when it came to fixing or building something, though I can't say that I've ever seen her fail.

"Just a turn here, and… Presto!"

Bulma snapped the cover back on, fitted the scouter to her ear, and pushed the scan button. Dozens of different symbols flashed before her, but she seemed to comprehend everything that she saw.

"What's your mother's power-level, Vegeta?"

That, I was unsure of. I'd never measured her ki before, nor did I know of anyone to whose strength I could compare hers. She wasn't as strong as my father was, I knew, but I didn't know how she would stack up against me. Before the war between Saiya-jin and Ice-jin, Father was estimated around 12,000, and I had heard guards mentioning my power-level on the occasion while I was imprisoned. Numbers between 10,000 and 20,000 were fearfully whispered amongst them as though I were equal withone of Freeza's elite soldiers.

Finally, I gave her my answer: "I'm not sure. Can you give me a synopsis?"

She pushed the button again, taking it all in within a matter of seconds. "Three hundred meters west, there is a cluster of high power readings. That's where we found your people locked up. Down south, there's one mega-huge ki signal surrounded by several much smaller ki signals, and over to the east of us, a few scattered readings."

"What about to the north of us?"

"Eh, let's see… Uh, clear shot for about a hundred meters… then a small cluster of low power-levels."

"I say we check out that high power reading."

She smiled and agreed. "Lead the way, Your Majesty."

--------

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long to get out. I've been pressed for time with schoolwork, so I haven't had as much time to write. Rest assured, I wouldn't leave you faithful readers hanging. As always, if there's something I can improve on or something I've gotten wrong in relation to the series, please let me know so I can fix it. Many thanks to those who have already given comments, and even to those shy readers who haven't.

If you've been paying attention, when Vegeta is telling the story, he uses customary units; but when Bulma gives him a read-out, she uses metric. This is because the scouter was programmed on a 10-base number system. By my theory, changing it to customary units would require more than just a little rewiring; she might have had to change the entire program, which would have taken her much longer than a few minutes.


	5. A New Threat

A/N: Huzza, an update! I'm not dead!See? I do _try_keep my word.

**A New Threat**

Cold, dark, dank, musty… There were many words to describe the passages around us. If it wasn't dark, we'd be wading in two to three inches of muck. If it wasn't cold, there'd be no lights until the next corner. If it wasn't musty, a chilling draft from who-knows-where would threaten to freeze off the ends of our fingers. That Freeza and his incompetent, petty soldiers… within only a few weeks, they had let the most beautiful castle ever built on Vegeta-sei go to waste. I couldn't help feeling that he had personally desecrated not only my home, but my heritage and people as well.

_And that son of a bitch would pay dearly for it, too._

As I imagined the many ways I could remove Freeza's tiny balls with various sharp objects, we continued our monotonous trek through the ruined hallways of the south wing. I kept on my toes, and Bulma monitored our progress with the modified scouter; like so, it remained for the next half hour. I caught myself jumping at mere shadows more times than I could count, though the low, gloomy lighting didn't exactly help; and I noticed that my Lady stayed close by my side the entire time, sometimes even grasping my hand as if in fear. Of course, being the noble prince that I was, I would protect her from all harm, even if it meant sacrificing my own life. After all, I owed that much to her for rescuing me.

I wondered then just how a feeble Earth-jin woman like her could have penetrated Freeza's defenses undetected and, even more so, how she could possibly have gathered the courage to slaughter the sentinel who guarded my cell. She, the sheltered daughter of a corporate owner, an Earth-jin who had _no fighting experience whatsoever_, had single-handedly saved my life. The very idea itself was utterly ridiculous! Yet, she somehow managed to pull it off. Bulma would definitely have to explain that one after this mess was over.

Suddenly, the scouter blipped.

We both froze in our tracks, shaken by the abrupt, sharp beep echoing throughout the hallway. Bulma slowly raised her finger to the button on the scouter and pressed it to scan our surroundings. Within a matter of seconds, she knew of everyone and everything possessing a detectable ki signal in the entire castle, but the baffled look on her face worried me.

"What is it?" I whispered, hoping that she hadn't seen anything particularly threatening.

She furrowed her brow and pushed the button again, exhibiting the same reaction to what she saw. With one anxious glance in my direction, I knew something was terribly wrong.

Shakily, she whispered a reply, "The signals… the ones around that large ki, half of them have _disappeared_."

"What do you mean, 'disappeared'?"

"They're _gone_. I can't see them anymore. And that high power-level, it's… moving."

Next, it was my turn to panic. Whoever it was obviously possessed strength far beyond any Saiya-jin's to wipe out that many guards in such a short amount of time. Having that kind of power fighting against us would only worsen our already adverse situation.

"Quick, give me a number," I demanded anxiously.

"The big one?"

"Yes! _Now_."

Pushing the button again, she revealed the digits. "Thirteen thousand… five hundred fifty… _and_… Shit!"

"_What?_ What's going on?"

"It's rising again! And another ki signal just disappeared!"

Cold fear struck through me like a knife. The mystery warrior was not only stronger than my father, but also appeared to be hunting down the guards in the castle. No wonder he'd been kept isolated. If this maniac warrior made his way to us, there was not a doubt in my mind that a major battle would ensue. Though it has been said that little can frighten the Prince of Saiya-jins, I remained aware of the cool, thin layer of sweat on my palms.

I led my Lady to the end of the corridor, where we stopped to reevaluate our situation. I peered around the corner to make sure no one was near before attempting my next move.

"What's up, Vegeta? Why did we stop?"

"I need you to do something for me before we come face-to-face with this maniac." I stood up straight and proud and insisted, "Tell me my power-level."

With the push of a button, the number was easily revealed, but Bulma merely gaped in disbelief. "Only nine thousand. Are you sure you want to face this guy?"

Masking my fear and dread, I gave her a reassuring smirk and stepped away from the wall.

"Step back. In fact, just go on to the middle of the hallway," I told her, hoping that my false pride act was working. 'The sooner I master hiding emotions from her, the better,' I thought.

She agreed without a fuss and did as I asked, though her stoic response contradicted her body language, showing me how fearful she truly was.

"If you say so, Vegeta. I just hope this new warrior doesn't have a scouter."

Concentrating my ki, I clenched my fists and let out a deafening howl, my body igniting in a blazing red energy flame, the shockwave from which literally rocked the foundation of the floor on which I stood. Feeling the energy within me soar, I focused my ki outward to the tips of my fingers, a searing glow irradiating from them like a burning candle. I felt my pulse skyrocket for the first few seconds, then level off as my ki stabilized.

"Now tell me my power-level!"

Still recovering from the shockwave, Bulma leaned against the wall for support and reached for the button once more. The instant it took seemed to drag out like minutes to me as the scouter let out several quick beeps.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short. I've been a little side-tracked lately with other writing ideas, one of them being for this. I've started a prologue for WWC (which I might post sometime in the near future) that I'm considering wedging somewhere into the main story. I'm also considering writing the next chapter or two from Bulma's point-of-view, as I plan to introduce Meillon sometime in either chapter six or seven. If anyone (dis)likes the idea or has a suggestion that might better the story, please let me know via e-mail or review (preferably e-mail). After all, if others can't enjoy my work, where's the sense in posting it? Again, sorry this load of crap took so long.


	6. The Prolouge Five Chapters Late!

Author's notes: I noticed that even though the story revolves heavily around Vegeta's feelings after his capture and the war between the Saiya-jin and Ice-jin, little is mentioned of what actually happened. This is a first-person account of Vegeta's last-minute struggle against Freeza's men and his thoughts during the first few days of imprisonment. Enjoy.

**Revelation: Through the Eyes of a Prince**

Dawn had barely touched the tops of the trees by the time I reawakened, the bright glimmer of sunlight filtering through the massive clouds above, coloring them all shades of the rainbow. All over I felt numb: no physical pain, so peaceful inside. Had I died? This wasn't the afterlife I was told stories of as a child, but it looked so beautiful and heavenly… however, the sight occupied my thoughts for but a minute as a wave of excruciating pain shot from the tip of my toes up to my forehead. Every part of me ached as though I had been beaten repeatedly with a hammer and thrown into a meat grinder. I tried in vain to sit upright, but the sharp pain in my abdomen kept me pinned. I was stuck lying on my back, vulnerable to any oncoming attack.

Recollecting the events from the past three hours, I began to realize just where I was and why. Memories of my recent battle with Zarbon flooded my mind with such images as his bloody, green knuckles colliding with the side of my face and his boney elbow smashing roughly into my testicles. If only I hadn't been so careless to give him the opportunity…. One thing was for certain, though: As soon as I could at least twitch a finger, I'd be that much closer to kicking his pretty-boy ass.

"Vegeta!"

At the sound of my name, I would've normally perked up and answered, but remaining perfectly still seemed to be my only pain-minimizing option. I silently prayed that whoever it was would find me quickly. I couldn't move, I couldn't focus my ki, and I sure as hell wasn't about to risk yelling and causing further pain to my already aching chest.

"_Vegeta!_"

I heard my name called again, this time more earnestly. By then, I had recognized the voice to be my father's, and relief washed over me. Even though I had been defeated on the battlefield far too easily, I knew that he wouldn't scold me--I was nearly dead.

Soon, I heard his footsteps approaching… then, fingertips grazed the back of my hand. In all the years I had come to know him, that was the only time I ever saw my father show empathy toward anyone.

"Are you alright, son? Vegeta, say something!" he demanded anxiously.

That was also the first time I had ever seen him genuinely worried about another person, too. I yearned to answer, but all that passed my lips was cough – a damn _painful_ _cough_. Fighting the urge to cry out, I tried speaking again.

"F-father… I can't move. That bastard…."

He placed a hand over my mouth. "Say no more. You're only hurting yourself."

I could smell the stench of fresh blood on his hand, further awakening my senses. Overwhelmed by the nauseating smell, I almost lost it once I realized where it was coming from: Beginning on the back of his wrist straight down to his elbow, Father's arm had been sliced open and was bleeding profusely.

"Your… arm."

"It's nothing to be concerned about. Just lie still while I go look for help." Father spared no second and stood up once more, giving me a rare smile of assurance before leaving.

Unfortunately, he didn't see the danger lurking behind him.

Weakly, I tried to warn him, but nothing would come out. And nothing could've possibly compared to the overwhelming shock and disgust I felt at that moment. I saw it so clearly; the last second of my father's life forever implanted into my mind.

Dodoria's glowing fist slammed though his back and out his chest like a knife, Father's face contorting to an expression of painful surprise as his fresh, glistening blood dripped down the tips of Dodoria's fat fingers. Dodoria violently jerked his hand out and cackled madly as my father's bloody cadaver fell to the ground.

I could tell… That sick bastard was enjoying every second of it.

"Oh, the poor _kingy_… Looks like he's got a widdle boo-boo." The pink blob snarled and chuckled, "Why don't the widdle prince help da-da, _hmm_? Oh, that's right—because he got his _ass_ kicked!"

I wanted so badly to crush every bone in his body, to beat his piggish face until that haunting, earache of a laugh ceased. On the contrary, all I could do was watch… watch as my subjects and family members died at the hands of an unstoppable monster.

Knowing well that I could do nothing to keep him from it, Dodoria knelt down beside me and waved his bloodstained digits in my face as if to show me that he'd won, that he was superior, that I had no chance of ever claiming what was rightfully mine. A couple excess drops of blood landed on my chin.

"Suck it up, _monkey_. That's the last you'll ever _see_ of dear ol' daddy."

I could stand no more. I knew it would hurt, but I had to say something back, even if it meant getting myself killed.

"You… you can kiss my _ass_—and burn in _hell_, you sorryass--"

A swift, silencing punch to the gut: That was the last I saw of Dodoria for nearly three months. In the mean time, I laid unconscious for twelve hours on the cold, hard floor of a prison cell that would be my "home" for the next several weeks.

More Author's Notes: I assure you I'm not dead. Recent problems in real life have kept me away from the computer for a little while, but with the summer coming up, I'll a little more free time to work on the story. Sorry you all had to wait so long for an update!


	7. Return of the Queen, Part 1

**Return of the Queen, Part 1**

"Eighteen thousand… four hundred thirty-two."

At first, I thought I'd misheard her. I couldn't have been _that_ powerful, could I? My father only maxed out at twelve thousand… Or could it have been that I had achieved a goal that would take the average Saiya-jin a lifetime? Again, I was faced with the question: Am I ready to be king?

"_Vegeta…? Son, what are you doing all the way out here?"_

_I had been playing in the courtyard, a trivial activity for those brief minutes of free time I received. (Being a prince wasn't all fun and games, you know.) Oftentimes, when I was alone, I would pretend—imagine myself as king. With my Royal Stick of Might, I would slay the invading bushes with their deadly tentacle-leaves. At least, until Father interrupted…_

_I lowered my stick and turned to face him. "I was only playing. Was there something you wanted?"_

_He shook his head. "No, I was just… watching. Who, might I ask, were you pretending to be?"_

"_Um…" That was a much tougher question to answer. How could I explain that I was imitating _him?_ Fearing he might take offense, I answered, "I was just… acting like I was a king. I was mighty and fearless! I _destroyed_ the alien attackers!"_

_His usual expression of indifference broke into a smile. "And one day, you _will_ be a king."_

_That was what I'd always dreamed about: ruling over my people and fighting against the evils that threatened them. In turn, they would adore me and see me as the greatest fighter alive. It sounded simple enough._

"_When will that be, Father?"_

_And, then, the smile was gone. "Being King takes responsibility, maturity, and experience—more than just physical strength. But you still have years ahead to prepare yourself for the throne."_

"_Years? That'll take forever!"_

"_No, not _forever_. You'll know when you're ready. When I'm unable to fulfill my duties, and you've come of age, you'll feel it. The selfless desire to serve and protect will push you forward and make a great leader out of you."_

"_To serve? I thought people were supposed to serve _me_."_

"_When you understand… that will be your time."_

And that indeed was one thing I didn't understand. How could ruling my subjects be serving them? Why would knowing what he meant make me a better king? If this tragedy hadn't happened, he might still have been alive to explain it to me.

"**Vegeta!** _Look out!_"

However, I hadn't the time to ponder it.

Just as the words escaped My Lady's lips, a lightly cloaked figure somersaulted over my head and landed three-point on the floor behind me. A small ki blast followed him from the dark corridor ahead, nearly singeing the end of my hair. One of Freeza's henchmen emerged from the shadows, bearing one of the strange glowing spears that I'd seen the other guards use, and began to charge up another attack. By the time I'd looked behind me again, the cloaked warrior had already powered-up, the ends of his fingers blazing blue like the center of a flame.

Panicked, I quickly scanned the room. Bulma had disappeared within the past three seconds, but I couldn't see any place where she could have hidden. I hoped to Kami that she was all right.

"_Your fighters are pathetic!"_ the Ice-jin sneered, his fist shining brighter as he prepared to fire.

I jumped out of the way as the guard released his attack, though some ancestor of Bulma's could probably out-blast him. The mystery warrior deflected it, sending the ki ball into the wall beside him, and retaliated with his own attack. The guard merely rolled out of the way and sprang into the air, descending upon his opponent fist-first. Again, the cloaked warrior parried, snatching the guard's spear away in an unanticipated response, and beat him to the floor with it. The guard, however, refused to stay down, and kicked his attacker literally into the wall.

At this point, I decided to join in. Regardless of whether the strange warrior was on my side or not, I would rather have seen one of Freeza's lackeys die first. I could deal with Mystery Man later.

"_You might fight now, but just wait until Freeza--!"_

The guard stopped short, making a series of painful gagging noises, as I grabbed the back of his neck and began squeezing it tightly. Had he been a lower-classed underling, his neck might've snapped sooner, but I could only smirk as he collapsed at my feet.

"Idiot. You should never let your guard down while _I'm_ around!"

The warrior climbed out of the crevice his body had made in the wall and brushed himself off. For the first time, I could catch more than a passing glimpse of him. Well, "her" I should say, after realizing that she possessed a developed set of mammaries.

"Well done, Vegeta. I can see you've grown stronger as well."

Without any sign of hesitation, she cupped my face in her hands and kissed the end of my nose, garnering a somewhat violent response from me.

"Who the hell _are_ you?" I yelled, slapping her hands away, and then pushed her back.

I have a very long list of things I do not tolerate, and loving affection from strangers just happens to be one of them. I was happily engaged and not too keen on receiving advances from anyone else at the time, regardless of her intentions. Of course, had I known who she really was, I might not have minded it so.

"Vegeta, for _shame_," she murmured darkly.

After a tense moment of silence, the warrior removed her hood. I opened my mouth to speak, only to shut it again.

"How could you not recognize your own _mother_?"

My lips were dry, my tongue thick, and all parts of my body needed for verbal communication had immediately ceased function. I knew that look in her eyes: disappointment. I couldn't apologize, and I most certainly couldn't explain what had passed through my mind at the time. Were she anyone else, I might have sneered and walked away.

"Mother… I…"

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, dishonoring me like that!"

I clenched my fists, feeling every muscle in my body tense with frustration. Were it not for my pride, I might've burst into tears, knowing that nothing I could say would change her mind. Never had I seen her so angry.

"I didn't… but…"

Then, I caught a familiar twinkle in her eyes, and her stern frown softened into a playful smile. "I was kidding, dear. I'm just glad to my have my baby back," she half-whispered and seized me in a full embrace.

I've also never felt such an overwhelming desire to slap my own mother.

* * *

Author's Notes: It's alive, it's alive! I'm back from the dead again! (Oops! I meant "the next dimension.") Anyway, what do you think of Meillon? Is she too "out there" or unbelievable? Does it seem as though she's taking away from the story? I actually listen to your opinions!

To whoever made the chapter switch-a-roo suggestion (Shadowed Rains?): I'll keep that in mind while I'm writing the next chapter or five. I _did_ say that I would take suggestions to make my readers happy, and I have full intentions of keeping my word. It'll just be rather challenging trying to find a place to squeeze that large of a flashback into.


	8. Return of the Queen, Part 2

**Return of the Queen, Part 2**

No word in the English language could have possibly described how relieved I felt knowing that my mother was alive. As I soon realized, however, she was quite different from the mother I remembered. The spiked tips of her hair just grazed her shoulders, the way they always had; but I could swear I saw a streak of gray peeking out from the front of her bangs. Her usually sleek tail was unkempt and greasy, wagging lazily behind her like that of a wild animal. Even her eyes, often filled with joy, appeared darker and colder. It was as though Freeza had somehow sucked the life out of her.

Once the shock had worn off, I began to ask myself: How had she escaped? How did she find me? When did she get so powerful? But, more importantly, where in the hell had my fiancée disappeared to?

"Vegeta, dear, you look worried. Is something the matter?"

Of course, Mother could always tell when I was upset, whether or not I'd meant for it to show. She had long since taken to her usual nature of smiling, but I still felt as though something wasn't right. This idiotic cycle had to stop.

"Have you seen Bulma, by any chance?" I asked.

"I haven't seen her since the fight. She might still be in hiding."

So, she called out to her, as did I, about four or five times. I furrowed my brow in worry when we received no answer; Mother looked over at me concernedly. Just as we were going to call her again, the pitter-patter of hastened footsteps up the hallway and a silhouette emerging from the darkness reassured us.

Well, until it pulled out a glowing spear.

Without a word, Mother powered up and rushed at the Ice-jin sentinel. The guard flipped his spear over and thrust it at her as she descended upon him, ki-charged fist ready for attack. Catching the end of it just below the sharp, iridescent tip, she snapped the spear in half. Unexpectedly, the guard reared back with the bottom half and struck her on the head. In the time it took her to sneer and place a curse upon his family and heritage, she'd stabbed him in the gut and forced him to the ground.

It was quite mesmerizing, really, seeing my normally gentle mother beat the shit out of someone; even more so, how the spear tip began to glow brighter as the guard screamed in agony. I always knew my mother was a great warrior at heart, but I couldn't help wondering where she learned the sorcery. I thought for sure I was seeing things.

In the violent heat of the moment, she forced the weapon further into her opponent's abdomen, garnering another howl of pain from him. With her weight alone, she easily prevented his attempts at retaliation and escape.

"Die, you worthless scum!" she snarled mere inches from his face.

And so he did, coughing up one last gout of blue fluid just before his eyes rolled back and his bloody hand, once gripped around my mother's wrist, fell limp at his side.

In all my years, I'd never seen any evidence of such pure hatred or malice in Mother's character. One would think that I'd be proud to have so zealous a fighter contribute to my lineage, but instead I felt only a twinge of anger. There's no doubt that I love my mother and would under any circumstances, but the bloodthirsty warmonger who continued to mercilessly slaughter enemy guardsmen wasn't the woman who raised me. Regardless of who she fought, the chilling smirk of satisfaction on her face seemed far too out of place.

Saiya-jins may be ardent in combat, but we're not completely heartless by nature. Foolhardy and arrogant, perhaps, but not heartless.

"Vegeta, would you have a look at _this_."

Snapping back into reality, I saw Mother neatly step over the corpse as she walked toward me, all smiles as she had been before. For a moment, I was speechless. Within so short an amount of time, she'd become more unpredictable than Bulma's mood swings.

"A look at what?" I asked finally as she stopped in front of me.

She wiped the blood off the spear tip with her cloak and handed it to me. After a quick once-over, I began twirling it between my fingers like a baton.

"What do you expect _me_ to do with it?"

"Look at how it's glowing brighter after I killed the guard. Every time I stabbed him with it… It was as if—I could swear I felt stronger! I've never felt such a driving determination to kill in all my life. So _strange_, it seemed."

I could only agree with her. Nothing seemed normal about that evil look in Mother's eyes. And then, she presented an idea that I hadn't thought of before:

"Either Freeza has learned to use magic, or he's developed some sort of new technology. I wonder…" She took the spear tip back from me and turned it over in her hands a few times; then, held it up to the light. "It's not any kind of crystal I've ever seen. It's like… something straight out of a fantasy book. Lady Bulma is well versed in these sorts of things, is she not?"

It was then that I became aware of a distinct thumping sound, accompanied by the muffled cries of a woman, coming from within the walls of the castle.

"Bulma!"

I had noticed before that she was missing, but then I was certain I knew where she was. Well, almost certain.

Unbeknownst to Freeza's men, the castle's chambers and corridors contained many trapdoors and hidden passages. Since the castle had been severely damaged during a time of war, past generations of the royal family sought to modify the castle's design to ensure its residents an upper hand through any breach of the castle walls. (After all, who doesn't enjoy the look of surprise on his enemy's face when the little bastard realizes he's just been ambushed from the _floor_?) Without knowing, she could've easily stepped on a spring-loaded stone or caught her clothes on a lever and fallen into a pit.

Mother and I began feeling on the walls and floor for any odd-shaped bricks or niches; but, try as we might, our search remained fruitless.

"What do we do? I can't tell where her screaming is coming from!" I was beginning to panic.

"Wait… I think I recognize this wall."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "You know where she's hidden?"

"Lady, can you hear me?" she shouted at the wall. "Please, be patient while I get you out!"

Bulma's incessant wails and pounding stopped. For a moment, all was silent.

Mother began feeling along a crack in the floor, digging her fingers between the stones as if she'd lost something. Seconds later, she pulled out a thin black rope: an unseen tripwire. She smirked, satisfied with her success, and said, "Now to find that switch…"

As Mother continued her search, I couldn't help wondering how it was she could tell one wall in that damned castle from another. They all looked the same to me.

"Mother?" I inquired.

"Wedding tradition," answered she.

Again, I was baffled. Again, I inquired.

"Years ago," began the tale, "your Father and I decided to deviate a little from the usual wedding ceremonies."

And, thus, I was told of the game Mother and Father played before their first night together, in which one of them would hide while the other looked for former. It seemed fairly simple and… well, _odd_, but I decided it best not to bother asking. During one such round of the game, Mother accidentally tripped over a rope, opening a passageway that she had never seen before. Since it looked like such a clever place to hide, she decided to stay there. Several minutes later, when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, she leaped out from her hiding place and tackled an unsuspecting Father.

"It was such a secluded place…" Mother mused, implying that there was a longer, less family-oriented version of the story. "Anyway," she pointed to a brick on the floor, "we decided to mark it as 'our place'."

I looked down at the brick: two Saiya-jin letters carved into it. _Vega_ and _Mae_, my parents' first initials. I tried imagining my Father doing anything remotely romantic. It didn't work. Before I could comment, I heard a resounding clack, and the section of the wall in front of me began to creak and slide open to reveal a dark passageway.

At first, I saw no sign of Bulma. The air was so thick with dust that I wondered just how My Lady could have survived being trapped in there for even a few seconds. Dense layers of cobwebs hung down like dirty gray sheets, and even though Mother insisted that there were several wall fixtures for holding torches lining the passage, I couldn't see any. In fact, the only non-grimy object I saw was a soft, round light glowing somewhere in the distance.

"Vegeta!"

The light started flying towards me, bobbing around in a sort of bipedal fashion. The next thing I knew, a cobweb-caked Bulma was squeezing the life out of me.

"Dark—and creepy—" she shuddered. "I was terrified! If it wasn't for my ki-detector, I might not have even found the wall!"

I wrapped my arms around her to calm her down. In the mean time, Mother looked for a way to close the door behind us so that none of Freeza's guards would follow.

"What took you guys so… long…?" Bulma trailed off, looked intently at something behind me.

"Is something the matter?"

Bulma pointed at Mother and gave me an unfamiliar look of perplexity. Strangely enough, in the time that I had been courting her, Bulma had never seen nor met my mother. As it turned out, when one was present, the other happened to be somewhere else doing something gravely important. I tried once, even, to find her a picture of Mother, but someone thought it would be a smart idea to renovate the library and royal galleries that week.

"_Don't you have a camera or something you can take a snapshot of her with?" said Bulma, a few weeks into our courtship._

_Father looked grimly at her from across the meeting table. "Photography is a useless exploit. We've had no need for it."_

And that was simply that.

Of course, then I had to give them both a formal introduction…

* * *

**Author's Note**: Yes! I've made it this far! Sorry I'm so slow to update. College prep stuff and lack of ideas tend to keep me from writing as often. Don't fret, though! Thisstory _will_ be finished if I have to beat myself to do it! 


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